A quarter of Japan's 128 million people are already elderly, meaning over 65. By 2060, the elderly will make up 40 per cent of the population.
Many will spend their dying days addled by dementia, which already affects 4.62 million Japanese. Ten years from now, an estimated 7.3 million people in Japan will have dementia - more people than live in Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro or the entire GTA.
"The impact will be so huge," said Dr. Koji Miura, director general of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's bureau for the elderly. "The burden on younger people is very rapidly increasing. If we don't do anything, society will be in trouble."
Last year, more than 10,700 people with dementia went missing in Japan. The vast majority were found - some dead - but 168 were not.
Violent crimes fuelled by kaigo jigoku, the Japanese term meaning "caregiver hell," are increasingly making headlines.